So Kelly Clarkson’s new single “Mr. Know It All” is out. Maybe you’ve heard it. It’s about folks who think they know you more than they do. If you haven’t heard it yet, check it out here:

Vocally, Kelly is in fine form. It has some decent hooks. The title is memorable. I’ve listened to it a few times now. Is it going Top 5? That’s a safe bet. Is it No. 1 material like “My Life Would Suck Without You” or “Since U Been Gone”? I’m not sure.

Continue reading Kelly Clarkson’s new single ‘Mr. Know It All’ is out »

Screen grab of the video with Carrie and Brad.

Carrie Underwood has landed her 13th No. 1 hit “Remind Me,” the duet with her CMA co host Brad Paisley, according to Mediabase 24/7.

It may or may not go No. 1 on the Billboard country chart. (There, she has 11 official No. 1 hits.) Jake Owen’s “Barefood Blue Jean Night” is climbing quickly and is positioned to lap Underwood/Paisley.  Dierks Bentley’s “Am I the Only One” is the current country No. 1 song on the Billboard country chart.

Scotty McCreery’s single “I Love You This Big” appears to have peaked at No. 15. Airplay is starting to drop. He has a new single coming out “The Trouble With Girls.”

Kellie Pickler’s “Tough” is still going up, ever so slowly, and is now at No. 30.

- Kelly Clarkson’s new single “Mr. Know It All” debuts later today.

- And congratulations to Bo Bice! He announced on his Facebook page today that he is expecting his fourth child.

- Plus, charges against Bucky Covington were dropped after a promoter …

Continue reading Carrie Underwood on top of country charts again with ‘Remind Me;’ charges dropped against Bucky Covington »

Well, I spoke too soon. I tallied the attendance at the first seven audition cities for season 11 and posted it yesterday. But apparently, “Idol” added a Northeast slot: East Rutherford, N.J., which is effectively the New York metro area.

The audition registration will begin Sept. 20 at the Izod Center and auditions will begin Sept. 22, according to ew.com.

New York tends to draw strong attendance, including 17,000 last year, the most out of any city in season 10. So far, based on my estimates, 64,000 people have tried out this year (though we do know some people do try out in multiple cities.) Last year, 68,000 tried out out of seven cities.

This is the first time ‘Idol” has included eight audition cities since season 8, when they also went to Puerto Rico (which drew only a few hundred people).

Last year, “Idol” held auditions in only six cities, then added a last-second seventh site in Los Angeles. Attendance was a bit underwhelming: only 3,000 showed up.

- Oh, and …

Continue reading Not so final after all: eighth audition city added in East Rutherford, N.J. »

About 64,000 people tried out for “American Idol” for season 11, down about 6 percent from an estimated 68,000 in 2010.

Here are the city-by-city breakdowns:

St. Louis (6/28) 10,000

Portland, Or. (7/2) 7,000

San Diego (7/8) 9,000

Pittsburgh (7/15) 12,000

Charleston, S.C. (7/22) 10,000

Denver (7/29) 6,000

Houston (8/26) 10,000

I tracked the estimates given by credible news sources from each of the seven audition cities from 2009, 2010 and 2011. The numbers have been similar each year no matter what cities they choose. In 2009, the tally was 67,200.

Competitors Converge on Houston ‘American Idol’ Auditions: MyFoxPHOENIX.com

Continue reading Final audition estimate tally for season 11: 64,000 »

Kristy Lee Cook stars in a Vs. hunting show called "Goin' Country"

Kristy Lee Cook has definitely taken one of the oddest routes of “Idol” alums by hosting a hunting show “Goin’ Country” on Versus Channel. It’s been around for a year and MJ noticed she is still doing so. Blake Lewis has guested before. Now it’s Bo Bice’s turn to see if he can bag a deer!

It airs Sunday at noon. I have Bo’s cel number so I just called him. He answered!

“We filmed it awhile back,” Bice said today. “Kristy and I are friends. You know, the ‘Idol’ connection. I’m an avid hunter, fisherman and conservationist myself. She’s a really talented lady with a lot of hunting knowledge. I got to spend time with her parents. We had a good three or four days together.”

He says he knows some folks are not fans of hunting but said he’s there to “conserve the land for these animals so we can watch them grow. We provide sustenance to families. I got my first black-tailed deer there.”

Bice tries to go hunting at …

Continue reading Kristy Lee Cook hunts deer with… Bo Bice! »

AP photo of James Durbin

Slim pickings on the news front today so I’m going to grab something I overlooked a couple days ago:

James Durbin will be featured in an upcoming documentary about Tourette  Syndrome. After broadcast in New York, the one-hour documentary will be available for national audience for a limited time at watch.thirteen.org.

He isn’t the star of the documentary. Here’s info from the press release:

Produced, directed and written by John Block and produced, edited and cinematography by Matt Wechsler, Different Is the New Normal reveals an acutely personal first-hand account of Tourette’s through the eyes of Ariel Small. With his permission, his mother Robin turned the camera on him to document their emotional journey to overcome the obstacles of Tourette’s in order to raise awareness about the disorder and help others living with the condition.  Along the way, Ariel meets James Durbin, American Idol finalist, whose own battle with Tourette’s make him …

Continue reading James Durbin in Tourette’s documentary »

AP photo of Simon Cowell

Simon Cowell is an odd man, GQ magazine decides in a very GQ-ish profile.

Sure, he prides himself for his mainstream tastes which may be why he’s so successful. And as we all know, he was really bored by “Idol” in its final years but he was financially obligated to pocket the tens of millions “Idol” was paying him to be Simon, the judge. But the writer has more fun picking apart Cowell’s habits. And it’s a good read, perhaps just as good as a vitamin drip!

- He has the same breakfast every day. “Hot water with lemon. Then papaya juice with lime. (”Tastes delicious, looks great,” he rhapsodizes. “It looks fantastic when it’s brought in in the morning. It’s just the best-looking thing in the world.”) Then oatmeal. Then tea. Then three different smoothies—a spinach smoothie,11 an antioxidant smoothie,22 and a super smoothie with seven fruits.”

- He watches old-school cartoons such as “The Flintstones” and “The Jetsons” in the morning, not the news.

- He …

Continue reading GQ psychoanalyzes Simon Cowell »

If you want to hear virtually every social media site of any worth namedropped into a parody song, season five’s Elliott Yamin pulls it off here (Twitter, Tumblr, BuzzFeed, YouTube, Wordpress, Facebook, FourSquare, UrbanSpoon, Yelp, et. al)

Continue reading Elliott Yamin parodies the social media world we live in »

M380 (Left to right.) Chris Carmack, Katharine McPhee and Joshua Leonard – star in Relativity Media’s upcoming release SHARK NIGHT 3D.

Katharine McPhee, who stars in the mid-season NBC show “Smash,” also had a role in the upcoming horror flick “Shark Night 3D.” It’s scheduled for release Sept. 2.

McPhee appears to be shark bait. It’s unclear based on this clip how substantial her role is.

- Megan Joy from season 8 got married to Quinn Allman, MJ reports.

- Kelly Clarkson’s ‘Stronger’ album is out October 25. It’s her fifth studio album. Her single “Mr. Know it All” comes out in a week.

Continue reading Katharine McPhee becomes shark bait in ‘Shark Night 3D’ »

Michael Johns partied like it was 2002 at Tin Roof Cantina August 20, 2011. PHOTO CREDITS: Rodney Ho/rho@ajc.com

Michael Johns spent every weekend from 1998 to 2002 singing cover songs during the heyday of Buckhead Village nightlife as a regular at CJ’s Landing.

He’d croon for hours in front of the drunken 20-something hordes, learning hundreds of rock songs. He eventually left for Los Angeles in 2002 seeking rock star fame (and even then, he’d return to Atlanta regularly to do gigs.). He nabbed record deals but the records themselves fell through. In 2007, he tried out for “American Idol” and made it on the show season 7, finishing eighth.

Johns, an Australia native, still has plenty of friends in Atlanta and visits at least once a year. “It’s great to be home in Atlanta,” he told the crowd after starting his gig with Pearl Jam’s “Better Man” and Elton John’s “Tiny Dancer. “It’s insane!”

Johns took requests (though he demurred when someone asked for Matchbox 20. Thank you, …

Continue reading Michael Johns goes back in time at Tin Roof Cantina »